Foundation Findings - Quality of life in urban and rural Europe

This policy brief highlights findings on a specific topic from Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) that is of particular interest from a policy perspective. It brings results of the analysis of these data together with evidence from other Eurofound projects to formulate a number of policy pointers. This policy brief focuses on differences in the quality of life between urban and rural Europe. About half (51%) of Europeans report that they live in a medium to large town (25%) or in a city or city suburb (26%), while 49% live in the open countryside, a village or small town. Since 2007, there has been a decrease in the number of people living in the open countryside and an increase in those living in medium to large towns.